Eight tenths Garden is an art museum dedicated to arts and crafts, which can also be used as a venue for the conference in the idle hours. It has a coffee shop, a library, offices, bed and breakfasts, as well as a restaurant, study rooms and chess rooms. It is a micro cultural complex in all.

Eight tenths garden was originally a sales center. The sales center was one of the two-story buildings on the street’s triangular corner, with a four-story circular hall embedded on the top of it. The entrance is located on the garth of the triangle. The other two sides of the building were the neighborhood committee and shops along the street.

We hope the building could reveal the spirit of Shanghai. The spirit of Shanghai is life based, which is a richness not only pleasant but also restrained. Thus, the space of this 2000 square meters’ building should be abundant in variation but also has a connection with each other. We do not want the obsessive minimalism, nor do we want an exaggerated scene which lacks of connections. We used antithesis to unfold the space. The garden in the outside represents complexity, inside building, in the other hand, shows simplicity. But these simplicities are somewhat different. The art museum should be contracted and powerful, but the study room and the restaurant next to it should be warm and soft. The joint offices on the third floor would be close to rough, and the bed and breakfast on the fourth floor goes back to a restraint of elegance. People could easily read a spirituality from it. On the top of the roof, we pay tribute to the ancient literati garden by placing a vegetation garden.

The bed and breakfasts on the fourth floor is hidden surprise of the whole Eight tenths Garden. Each BNB has a courtyard in the air. There settles a “four water belongs to the hall” patio in the public area. The courtyards are contemporary Chinese courtyards, originated and refined from the painting of Chou Ying, which is a practice of the vertical city, trying to build a real villa in the air.

Our designed part is adhering to the neighborhood committee and the street shops. Inside the courtyard, we have two back walls in addition to the garden hall, which hangs plenty of air conditioning and a variety of pipes. We used a curtain as a fencing wall to insulate this cluttered environment from the Eight tenths Garden.

For the fencing wall, we tried corrugated board, glazed tile, perforated aluminum (pattern is the pixel style of the “thousands of miles mountains and rivers”), aluminum grille with vertical green. We refused to use the vine green wall, cause the style of the wall is not important but must be black and must not be completely sealed. Only this kind of fencing wall could give a contrast from the surroundings to the Eight tenths Garden, making it a rebirth place raised from the old place. The galvanized frame is also part of the old thing, while the black grille is new. The pattern is not important, but the final size of the pattern should be study case it determines the aesthetic details. Only black can split the fencing walls and old things and become the background of the central gorgeous round curtain modestly.

We use perforated aluminum plates in the folding fan style to create a veil on the facade. This veil is not the climate border, it has a glass curtain wall, a yard as well as a balcony behind. We created a blur between the facade and the climate border.

We hope to build a garden which pays tribute to the Shanghai street park in its 70s, as well as to the local garden history. Let the garden and the building fuse together into one. The entirety of building and garden is architecture.

We designed the bamboo entrance in the front yard, makes the Eight tenths Garden independent. But the Eight tenths garden is not a private garden, it is freely open to the surrounding residents, which makes the garden approved by the surrounding residents. They cherish the garden, feeling satisfied to walk quietly in the garden a few steps to meet. We are rebuilding the space in a complex neighborhood, this is the only time which won the neighborhood a letter of praise of the project. This is why we put the front yard design into the urban micro-space revival plan. The street was once a simple aisle, the original landscape was worn-out, but our front yard changed the corner, making it lively again. The sociological meaning of architecture is revealed.

Mr. Client was a Shanghai famous enamel factory’s last manager. Enamel was once the most important daily necessities dominated China, but now almost unstable. Over the years he has collected a mass of enamels, the quality and quantity of these enamels can become the eye of this micro cultural complex. With the construction of the Eight tenths garden. Mr. Client’s son comes back from Milan, founded a fashionable enamel brand and settled in the Eight tenths garden. This is a rebirth of old technology and family traditions.

Because the garden covers an area of ​​less than about four hundred square meters, just eighty percent of the whole area. The Chinese name “Bafen” derived from this, which could also remind people to live a life medium well but not too full. That’s why the garden called ’ Eight tenths Garden’.

Compass House by Toronto-based superkül recently claimed the 2017 Architizer A+ Award (Jury Winner) in the Residential Private House (L 3,000-5,000 sq ft) category. The esteemed Architecture & Design jury was comprised of: Chris Precht, Founder, Penda; Kristian Lars Ahlmark, Partner, Schmidt Hammer Lassen; Keely Colcleugh, Director and Founder, Kilograph; Kristen Brittingham Donnelly, Partner, Studio 2X. Honouring the best architecture, spaces and products from across the globe, the A+ Awards received an astonishing 5,000 entries from over 100 countries. In the past year, Compass House has also been named an Interior Design Best of Year Award Honoree, and was recognized with an Honourable Mention in the Residential Architect Design Awards.

Designed as a weekend home for a family of six, Compass House takes its name from the clients’ desire to chart a new course as they transition from an extended stay in the United Kingdom to life back in Canada. To achieve this, the design of the home transcends ordinary domestic programming, creating a place of spiritual resonance that orients and heightens one’s experience of the surrounding environment. Through its siting, massing, tectonics and materiality, it balances intimacy and expansiveness, light and dark, land and sky.

Located on the Niagara Escarpment, Compass House’s siting instrumentally establishes orientation. The house sits at the nexus of the land’s constituent characteristics: forests to the west, a hill to the south, and 100 acres of fields to the north and east. Set back from the road, it is surrounded by a thicket of trees to provide windbreak and a sense of enclosure. On approach from the existing farm lane, the white exterior helps register the seasons, distinct amidst the green fields of summer, and melding into a winter landscape of waning light and snow.

Landscape manipulations help embed and connect the house to its site: constructed with fieldstone found on the property, low retaining walls create a foundational plinth for the house and an enhanced sectional dynamic. Two perpendicular wings enclose an intimately scaled outdoor courtyard. In response to the building’s low-lying horizontality, the totemic form of the outdoor fireplace adds a critical vertical counterpoint, as do the judiciously placed skylights in the soaring pitched roof planes of the house, which allow soft washes of light to illuminate the interior. The eye is drawn upward, establishing an intensified and spiritual relationship to a larger environment of sky, sun and clouds.

The form of the main residence innovates on the historical precedent of the longhouse — an inherently efficient typology found throughout Europe and parts of North America. With an elongated narrow footprint, all rooms and spaces enjoy pronounced natural light and ventilation. The length also allows for a balanced and effective distribution of programming, with a generously scaled yet intimate family space — including kitchen, dining and living areas — at the centre of the plan, and bedrooms comfortably separated on either end.

Inside, floors and walls made from white oak and knotty white cedar are textured and warm. In contrast, the ceiling above the main space is white, expansive and seemingly boundless. The distinct difference in materiality echoes the meeting of land and sky outside. On the exterior, the firm’s commitment to an architecture that endures is manifest in the use of low-maintenance construction materials such as cement-board siding, aluminum windows and a steel roof. Built to age gracefully, the house will sustain for generations. Phase One of the project is already LEED Gold-certified, and its commitment to sustainability carries into Phase Two with a design that prioritizes natural daylighting, passive ventilation, high insulation values and construction waste reduction. The provision of an in-ground geothermal system furthers the goal of what is already exceptional energy performance.

superkül is the Toronto-based practice of principals Meg Graham and Andre D’Elia. Founded in 2002 upon a wide range of professional experience acquired in Canada and abroad, superkül is recognized as a leading Canadian design practice. Its commitment to design excellence, pragmatism and advanced building technologies has resulted in numerous architecture and design awards and recognition in several esteemed publications in local, national and international contexts.

The firm’s portfolio encompasses a wide variety of project types, including single-family and multi-unit housing, commercial and institutional work, and master planning. While diverse, all of the projects undertaken —regardless of scale—evidence an immaculate attention to detail and material resolution, and a profound connection to their built and natural contexts. Moreoever, the prevailing ethos in superkül’s work is one that prioritizes sustainability not as an afterthought but as a foundational principle, alongside the pragmatics of buildability and constructability.

WE Architecture, together with JWH Arkitekter and By Munch, have won a competition to design a new allergy-friendly row-house complex in Skødstrup, north of Aarhus.

The project proposes a sustainable and innovative usage of water, soil and air, being the first to follow the new quality guide for new social housing, published by the Aarhus municipality. The idea is to have a green suburban plantation where the landscape and overviews are emphasized by low rise housing units of (mainly) 2 storeys.

The site is gently sloping towards a scenic landscape of Aarhus Bay in the south. The 2 storey row houses are individually placed on the site for optimal view angles, sunlight intake and the best conditions to form a community.

The interaction with the terrain is one of the primary focus points at Lauritshøj, and in this sense, incorporating a level difference on the ground floor amplifies the feeling of living on a hill and creates a better overview of the landscape. The settlement is symbolically organized in a spiral around common houses and gardens, opening towards the surrounding landscape, neighbouring buildings and the city. A balance between intimacy and community is attained by creating, on one hand, less exposed spaces with respect to privacy, and socializing areas for large groups on the other hand.

The architecture and aesthetics of the buildings are made attractive and welcoming through a holistic choice of materiality, shapes and colours. The houses are cladded in yellow brick with window profiles and roof details in natural or black woodwork. The units are alternatively pushed in and out and vary in size, orientation, and typology. This variation gives many types of families an opportunity to find their new home in Lauritshøj.

An endless view is a hymn for the eye. The sound of the horizon moves your mind. A solitude site, with the sea in front and lush valleys in the back, is always the right place for a house. If the site is empty, you should build there if you can. If the site is built, you should by the house. If it does not fit your need, rebuild it.

This is what we did at Sand. The site came first and will always do. There happened to be an old cottage standing on the meadow between the cliffs. We bought the meadow and the house in 1992. The house dated from the 17th century and was as natural on the site as the oaks next by. It is not with an easy mind you begin to transform four hundred years of history, but we found a way to add new values and yet preserving the old. Two wings were added, one for the office and one for the children. The roofs of the low protruding flanks were covered with grass. It tied the additions to the poor and simple history of the old cottage but did also relate to the ecological discourse of the 1990s. The plan, with a slightly irregular piazza á la Campidoglio in front of the old building did on the other hand link the ensemble to the grand history. A contemporary detailing finished this refurbishment and the house served the family well in work as well as leisure for many years.

Some disadvantages became however obvious as years went by. The porch on the seaside was nice to use but ugly to look at. The master bedroom under the roof-beams was intimate but undersized. When a mice ran over Karin’s bed one morning, the disadvantages of a poorly built addition from the 80’s became too obvious. A second remodeling of the old cottage took place; this time with focus on the old structure.

By lifting the roof about a meter, the former petit attic was transformed into a spacious loft. The exterior facing the inland could still pass as an old farmhouse; now rather a kiln than a cottage. The other side, however, was altered in to a geometric composition where two oversized window panes erases the rustic image. Traces of tradition are still present, in the old brick roof for example, but the 21st century has now taken the role to lead rather than follow.

The majestic windows, one for the loft and one for the dining room downstairs, are juxtaposed by a tall loggia protruding from the old living-room. This space can be opened and closed with curtains, thus enable to use for dinners or cocktails rather independent of the unreliable Swedish summer weather.

There are some other features in the interior worthy to point out: The loft do not only have a tall window pane toward the sea. The gables are translucent too. A exterior and interior paneling with gaps are glued to double glass panes, enabling sunrays to dance on the floor. The effect of the tall glass in the dining room is quite different from the one upstairs. The hided mounting in walls and ceiling, makes the diamond glass disappear. To sit in the Granny Smith green room is to be part of the landscape. Comfortable as in a theater loge and with the nature set on stage right in front.

The new ABN AMRO Pavilion is unique in the Netherlands: the first built example of a purely sustainable and circular design. The main thought behind circular design is that the impact of the building causes the least possible reduction of the world’s resources. The circular economy is waste-free and resilient and that is the exact idea behind this Pavilion. Right from the start the recyclability of all materials used were taken into account.

Circular economy is also about people and how they function better in a pleasant environment with various opportunities to interact. That has influenced the design as well. The new pavilion is located near the railway station of Amsterdam’s vibrant South Axis business district, in front of the HQ of the ABN AMRO bank. Most striking is the large glass facade that gives the pavilion an open appearance. Visitors can use the broad staircase on the side of the Pavilion. The stairs lead to a public space where both passers-by and employees can meet. The roof is covered with earth and grass, thereby contributing to biodiversity. It is an attractive public space to get a breath of fresh air during a break.

Inside the building there is more than 2000 square metres of meeting and office space but also space is reserved for the so-called ‘living lab’. A space where the latest innovations, which seem promising but have not yet proven their value, can be applied and tested. For instance, a part of the facade is prepared for the application of new materials, so that it can be examined if there are even more durable solutions. The Delft University of Technology was involved in this project from the beginning and will stay present in the ‘living lab’ to monitor the experiments and start new ones. In this way, theory is continuously tested in practice. It is not inconceivable that the ‘living lab’ will collaborate with start-ups, who in turn may supply new innovative ideas, both in the field of collaboration as in the construction field.

From an engineering perspective, we looked at the different life cycles of the various components of the Pavilion. Project architect Hans Hammink explains: “We selected wood as the main material. The life cycle of the supporting structure is estimated to be thirty years. This means that the supplier must be able to pick up the timber after three decades in order to use it again. Therefore we need to create a design which makes it easy to dismantle the components of the Pavilion.”

In fact, in a circular way of thinking the wood supplier is no longer a mere ‘supplier’, but a ‘co-creator’. The supplier should benefit from being able to re-use his wood again after thirty years. How this will work in detail, it is something that is still being considered. Hammink adds: “This is also a result of circular building. You try to look further ahead, to be visionary. You turn philosophy into practice, but some solutions have yet to emerge.”

Special attention has been paid to every aspect of the building: the use of furniture, sustainability, flexibility and re-usability of the interior fittings. Continuously we sought cooperation with new partners, which again led to new solutions. This way a new meeting place emerges, that is more than just a beautiful building. The Pavilion will be a pioneer in the field of circular economy. A design in which the architects looked into the future as much as possible. A design which will be shaped and developed further by the users in the future: an ever-propelling process itself.

With an inherited idea from planning one view for one line, all the 9 above ground stations are of similar layout and alike appearance. There were 3 design institutes, 5 cladding contractors and many partner institutes working on the Line, Signal, Power Supply etc. The management mode of the project was more like a matrix of multi-to-multi than a radiation of one-to-multi.

The basic type of the stations is a building of 3 storeys with rails in the centre or on both sides, MEP on ground floor and the second together with entrance hall while platform on the third.

Moreover, the aesthetic request for a new station at that time was raised by Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning. It was expected to be elegant and pleasing. All the station designers were struggling to meet it to get their work approved.

Our solution started from rolling a paper to wrap a pen, the 2 favorites of an architect. The curved paper jerked at the two ends, seemed to be towed by the pen, the same way the cladding by the rails to give the sense of orientation and movement.

The minimum envelop cladded the platform with an overlapped roof on the top to form a rain-screened ventilation gap letting go overheated air in summer, and material changing from metal panel to glazing panel at the two triangle corners on both ends to ease the tension of on the driver’s vision.

The built quality of the stations was subject to their tight schedule and the average construction level at that time. The final result just roughly matched the original design intent. Nevertheless, whether or not they have met this Elegant and Pleasing, is leaving to their users and time.

In the Tilburg railway zone, the construction of the LocHal took off this week. Within the contours of the monumental locomotive hall, CIVIC architects in collaboration with Braaksma & Roos Architecten and Inside Outside, designed a large public building. The project houses a public library, workspaces, conference rooms, exposition spaces, an art school, a glass music hall and an elevated foyer overlooking the city. The building adds a contemporary layer to the ancient typology of the library. It functions as a public space where visitors can read and lend books and other media but at the same time are stimulated to collectively share and develop new knowledge.

The spatial design emphasises the concept. Large open spaces, stairs en open floors add to the value of the monumental hall and the idea of an ‘open’ library. The generous entrance in the new south facade connects the building with the most important routes in the railway zone. The visitor enters the LocHal at the large open public hall where all the functions in the building intersect. The stairs and terraces in this hall offer spaces to read and work and can also be used as exposition or performance space and debating area. With every step upwards the program and use of the space turns calmer and lighter. The public hall is flanked by two rows of impressive columns that guide the visitor through the building.

Six mobile and full height textiles offer the possibility to isolate workspaces or to temporarily transform the landscape of stairs into a theatre- or lecture hall. Spread through the building are so-called ‘’Stijlkamers”: public workspaces with a specific theme and atmosphere. The library collection is organized around these chambers. The landscape of stairs connects with the co-working centre of Seats2Meet, which is itself surrounded by meeting halls. On the top floors, the individual workspaces of the library are situated next to a 60-meter-wide winter garden (the City Balcony) that offers a view over the city.

The architectural language of the LocHal is robust, sturdy and timeless. The repetitive structure, structural clarity and robust detailing strengthen the existing architectural qualities of the industrial monument. Four materials are applied: concrete, steel, wood and glass. A new floor is casted onto the existing concrete floor and the current lubrication pits are covered with a crosscut wooden floor. The ascending concrete landscape of stairs is partially finished with wood. Steel concrete floors are visibly suspended from the old crane construction. Staircases and closed volumes are made of either structural or blue steel cladding. Higher in the building, the elements turn more refined. Light enters from everywhere. The large textiles provide the LocHal with the necessary softness and warmth. The fabrics also have an acoustic function: they make it possible to isolate a concentration space in the middle of the busy urban hall.

The design of the new architecture relates to the existing structure in size and material: smooth blue steel planes versus the existing patina of the compiled columns and crane tracks, moving textiles follow the crane rails and the wooden stairs refer to the industrial crosscut wood. The city balcony is suspended above the entrance. On this new structure, the glass façade and roof have been designed as a contemporary interpretation of the existing hall. The steel curtain wall on the ground floor is in size fully tailored to the existing railways running through the building. This curtainwall can be partially opened at specific points so railway wagons equipped with green gardens can still be driven in- and outside.

The building is open to the public 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. The opening hours and accessibility of the different functions differ. For every situation, the right accessibility can be organised. With this flexibility, a public activity in the public hall combined with use of the kitchen can be organised with the rest of the building closed off. The building is climatized locally and adaptively conditioned for mixed use. The open city hall has an intermediate climate that renders it suitable as an indoor forum, seats on the landscape of stairs are heated and cooled and the offices have their own sublimate. This creates a flexible and comfortable interior climate while preserving the monumental shell.

The construction of the LocHal catalyzes the redevelopment of the 75ha Spoorzone in Tilburg. An area in the middle of the city previously used by NedTrain for the production and maintenance of trains. The building connects and activates public roads all around. Its location in the middle of a public transport node and the transparency of its construction will turn the building into an attractive hub for sharing knowledge and information for the entire region.

In an intensive process of co-creation, the three offices CIVIC Architects, Braaksma & Roos and Inside-Outside made the architectural design. Arup was responsible for all other advisory services. Binx is responsible for engineering and construction. The library of Midden Brabant has appointed Mecanoo to provide the furnishment design.

]]>https://www10.aeccafe.com/blogs/arch-showcase/2017/07/05/cityforum-public-library-tilburg-in-the-netherlands-by-civic-thecloudcollective/feed/0424432Ice Sports Center of the 13th China National Winter Games in Ürümqi by The Architectural Design and Research Institute of Harbin Institute of Technologyhttps://www10.aeccafe.com/blogs/arch-showcase/2017/06/28/ice-sports-center-of-the-13th-china-national-winter-games-in-urumqi-by-the-architectural-design-and-research-institute-of-harbin-institute-of-technology/
https://www10.aeccafe.com/blogs/arch-showcase/2017/06/28/ice-sports-center-of-the-13th-china-national-winter-games-in-urumqi-by-the-architectural-design-and-research-institute-of-harbin-institute-of-technology/#respondWed, 28 Jun 2017 14:28:29 +0000https://www10.aeccafe.com/blogs/arch-showcase/?p=422587Article source: The Architectural Design and Research Institute of Harbin Institute of Technology

Back ground story

The functional layout design is mainly based on the rational organization of events and the environment space shaping during and after events to provide athletes and citizens with diverse activity spaces, two main entrances provided on the north and south sides of the base, three main venues, i.e. the speed skating gym, the ice hockey hall and the curling hall arranged close to the entrance to facilitate event organization and people evacuation, the athlete apartment and the media center, etc. that provide service for sport events arranged on the side far from the city road, the three venues and the medium center showing a ring-shaped layout, like snow lotus in blossom.

We draw design inspiration from such characteristic features as snow-capped mountains and Gobi unique to Xinjiang, with pure white roofing to outline the shape intention of a natural snow cap, horizontal lines that go through layered processing to simulate the unique rock formations of Gobi, the simulated snowflake crystal on the glass to echo the geographical features of Xinjiang. The whole building complex is like being tucked in the snow white, with the facade image decent, elegant and resourceful, in good harmony with the environment, realizing the artistic conception of “Snow Town for National Games at the Foot of Tianshan Mountain“.

The ice surfaces in all venues involved in the project shall meet the requirements in the latest competition rules 2010 of ISU, with standard tracks with a perimeter of 400 meters used in the speed skating gym, 70m*40m venue used in the ice hockey hall, able to be used for such events as ice hockey, short-track speed skating and figure skating, a 50m*26m practice field arranged on the same floor to provide athletes with warm-up ice surface before the event; the venue size of the curling hall shall be based on the size of an ice hockey venue to meet the requirements of variety of ice sports.

Northeast Based on the location and future function positioning of the base involved in the project, the basic positioning of a sports park is adopted in the design, which can not only meet the requirements of professional sports events but also provide a supporting high-level training base for professional sports teams and provide a new urban tourist destination integrating sports, entertainment, catering, accommodation and shopping after events, with consideration given to both winter and summer seasons. Based on this positioning, inspiration drawn from the unique regional landscapes and traditional culture of Xinjiang, closely centering upon the ice and snow theme, a “Silk, Road, Flower, Valley” design concept is put forward to show the splendid culture and spectacular scenery of Xinjiang.

We draw design inspiration from such characteristic features as snow-capped mountains and Gobi unique to Xinjiang, with pure white roofing to outline the shape intention of a natural snow cap, horizontal lines that go through layered processing to simulate the unique rock formations of Gobi, the simulated snowflake crystal on the glass to echo the geographical features of Xinjiang. The whole building complex is like being tucked in the snow white, with the facade image decent, elegant and resourceful, in good harmony with the environment, realizing the artistic conception of “Snow Town for National Games at the Foot of Tianshan Mountain”

Professor Mei Hongyuan is an academic leader in the cold regions engineering architectural design field of China, master of architectural design in China, candidate for the academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2013, Chairman of the ICCHA and Chairman of the Cold Regions Architecture Academic Committee of the Architectural Society of China.

In the past 30 years, Professor Mei Hongyuan has been at the frontline of cold regions architectural design and scientific research in Northeast China, has innovatively developed cold regions architectural design theories, design methods and technical measures, directed the design of over 60 major architectural projects of various types, including exhibition, cultural, sports and educational buildings and undertaken 17 domestic and foreign scientific research projects, including China National Science and Technology Plan projects and European Union Research Plan projects.

In the late 19th century, while Finland was still a Grand Duchy under Russia, Hanko was a popular spa resort for the Russian nobility. The endless meandering beaches are lined by leaning pine forests and grand wooden seaside villas.

Stormvillan is situated right at the heart of the historic villa district. The main floor opens out to three directions: The living room to a long view out to sea, the lounge west for sunsets across the dining terrace and the master bedroom takes in the junipers and wind blown pinetrees of the cliff it stands on. This form also maintains unobstructed views to the sea from the old Casino and the neighboring national romantic Parkvillan, designed by one of the most significant architects of the time, Theodor Höijer.

The ground floor cuts into the rock and the villa is entered on beach level. Visitors are guided through a narrow hallway with a glazed wall facing the revealed bedrock. At the very end of the ground floor is a room with two walls of bare bedrock, the wine cellar. A carpet clad staircase leads up to the main floor. Designed as a home for an elderly couple, the villa also has an elevator and fully accessible bathrooms. The main floor is about light, views and flowing space. It’s angles are designed to fit the natural shape of the rock as well as the fantastic views out to the sea.

The villa is clad in spruce panel, painted with traditional linseed oil paint as are the surrounding 19th century villas. The roof of the ground floor level serves as a wooden terrace with a section of green roof. The zink roof blends into the coastal hues of the sky.

Although built less than 40 years ago, the main house is typical of provençal houses : rectangular, compact, and symmetrical with a stone framed entrance at the centre, and with small windows and terracotta tiles.

This is a landscape project.

The extension is set within the existing terraced planes, between the main house and the stone walls, redefining new intersection lines in the landscape.